


A Lesson in Sharing

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 15:13:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18054935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: After Darla is badly injured, Angelus tries to get into Dru’s bed.





	A Lesson in Sharing

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer** \- They don’t belong to me but I do have fun with my non-profit play. All rights belong to Mr. Whedon et al.
> 
> **Time line** \- 1880's soon after Spike was turned, before he took on the name of Spike.
> 
> **Author’s Note** \- This was originally started way back when as a challenge by Chris G-D to use a dressing ring in a story. It was meant to be more about Angelus making it up to Darla for being a cad. He refused to play along. It sat around until I thought of a way to work in a little color and fit it into my color_I_fic challenge where my challenge is the Fanged Four and the color theme red: Color for this story - Cherries in a bowl of garnet. It was originally published in January 2006.

XXX

William pulled Dru back into the shadows as she snared a dirty little rag-picker with giant eyes. His dark poppy tended to lose sense of where she was when presented with a young tasty tidbit. He hadn’t been a vampire long, but he knew enough to use the shadows.

Dru tried to teach William but she couldn’t keep her mind on things. Angelus took over for her when that happened. William might not like the older vampire at times, like when Angelus mocked him, but he was an excellent mentor. William knew for now he was best served by keeping his mouth shut, taking Angelus’s abuse and learning all he could. He now had a very long time in which to plan ways to turn Angelus’s ugliness back on him.

William needed to learn to be less human. In some ways, it was easy. The demon inside him howled and demanded, and all he had to do was let it slip its chain. Still, things fettered him to his humanity: fashion, poetry, music, things he liked. He had yet to figure out what to shed and what to keep. He had time, much more than the rag picker Dru let drop into the filth of the alley.

“Her blood was thin.” Dru peeled her hands out of her gloves, dropping them on the girl, having decided they were too soiled to keep.

“They all suffer from that in these parts.” William scowled at their dark surroundings. They hunted mostly in grim sections of London where death paid its respects daily, and no one would notice a few more bodies. Angelus was always on about that, killing quietly without notice. Yes, it filled the belly but not William’s dark desires.

In a town such as London certainly something splashy and satisfying would be possible. Still for the moment, William was happy enough to mind Angelus’s hectoring. It just grated that Angelus was always spouting off, strutting around, bragging about the things he had done, all the wicked, grand schemes he enacted, the very things he had forbidden William. He suspected his grandsire was just trying to keep him subordinate, and until he learned better what do with his new found strength, William had to put up with it. Angelus was making him a better monster. William was sure of it and glad for it.

“Run!” 

William whipped around at that forceful warning. He had never heard Angelus so urgent. He raced down the street. William wasn’t used to seeing Angelus run. Oh, he’d chase after prey but this time Angelus was running like something bigger and badder than him was on his heels. It didn’t help that he was half carrying, half dragging Darla. The eldest of their family couldn’t stay on her feet, her skirts plowing through the filth of the streets, and she moaned in pain as she went.

Dru let loose with a strange keening noise as she tensed against William. He knew she must be picking up on something he was blind to. He grabbed her hand and started to run. Her heels sounded like thunder on the walk way. William didn’t know how she or Darla ran in such things.

“Wagon!” Angelus bellowed, pointing to the pony-drawn cart laded with coal. 

William all but tossed Dru onto the back with the coal. He jumped up onto the driver’s bench, grabbed the bewildered cart driver, snapped his neck and threw him into the street. Angelus hit the back of the cart like a sledge. Darla screamed when she landed on the dark rocks. William turned to see what was wrong. A strange stench assaulted him, like burnt flesh. Darla was curled into a ball so he couldn’t see what was wrong with her. Angelus had two arrows sprouting from his broad back. William saw a man striding down the street, crossbow in hand.

“Drive, you fool!” Angelus snarled.

William whipped the pony into a frenzy, which didn’t amount to much, not with a loaded coal cart topped off with four people. Angelus glanced back and saw their pursuer racing after them.

“We could run faster than this. You can bet Dillingham can. Drive!” Angelus ordered.

“It’s a pony,” William shot back. “It’s doing the best it can...I think. What the hell do I know? I’ve never done this before.”

“Perfect.” Angelus thumped William on the shoulder.

William ignored Angelus’s ire as he tried to get more speed out of the pony. The man with the crossbow was out of sight just as William lost control of the cart. The pony shrieked as the cart overturned. The vampires did likewise. Coal skittered over the cobblestones. 

“That’s the last time the runt drives,” Angelus spat, helping Darla up.

“Quit calling me that,” William snarled, steadying Dru as her heels clattered on the cobbles.

“Shut up and run,” Angelus said.

William obeyed, contenting himself with killing Angelus in his mind. Angelus led them into the sewers, and took a long, round about, confusing trail through them to a block away from their home. Even William wasn’t sure he could have followed their path nor sniff them out, given the overwhelming reek of the sewer. As he brought up the rear, he realized Darla was more seriously hurt than Angelus. She was becoming more and more dependent on him to walk further. She was barely able to hold in the moans as they pressed on.

“Dru, get the lights,” Angelus ordered as they entered their home.

Dru turned on the gas light in the spacious foyer. Their home always has an air of perpetual mourning, dark curtains always drawn. In the bedrooms, wardrobes had been put in front of the windows to further darken the rooms so they could sleep in comfortable beds. Angelus looked down on vampires who lived underground like rats.

When the lights flared, William was taken aback. Darla’s scalp had slid backwards like someone had yanked her hair off with grotesque force. The right side of her face had been bubbled and burned to muscle and beyond. Part of her lip was gone showing teeth and gums.

“My lord,” William said, falling into mild old blasphemies when he wanted to be even coarser. He hated the meek lace-curtain man he had been.

Angelus didn’t react to it. He sat Darla down and went into the kitchen. He came back with towels and water in a bowl. He sat down. “William, go see if you can round up some laudanum, lots of it.”

William was just as glad to go out and miss what was bound to be a gruesome clean up. Keeping a vigilant eye out for the stranger with the bow, he headed for the chemist’s. William found an unhealthy quantity of laudanum and took it all. He wondered how many people he could kill with it. He hurried back home, looking over his shoulder nervously. It would help if he knew what he was looking for. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the man with the crossbow.

“Got it,” he said, finding everyone in Darla and Angelus’ bedroom.

“About time,” Darla snarled through her ruined mouth. At least the worst of the burnt and hanging flesh had been cleaned away. “You couldn’t have been slower.”

William wanted to argue but Darla could be unpleasant enough without him taunting her. He just turned the opiate over to Angelus who held one of the bottles to Darla’s lips. “What happened exactly?”

“Angelus is an idiot,” Darla said, licking the bitter liquid from her lips. “I chose him for his pretty face and lack of brains but sometimes his stupidity is astounding.”

With a snarl, Angelus crushed the bottle to her mouth. William wasn’t sure if the cracking noise was the bottle breaking or her teeth. She snatched the bottle away from her lover and nursed from it on her own.

“It wasn’t my fault,” Angelus protested.

She pulled the bottle away from her ruined lips. “Like hell.”

“Grandmummy and Daddy will be fighting long after the moon falls from the sky,” Dru said, clutching William’s arm.

“Dru.” Darla shot her a warning look. “And Angelus, you know how jealous Dillingham is of that dumb cow of his, and you just had to try and get under Tamara’s skirts.”

“Didn’t think I’d get caught,” Angelus mumbled.

“Because you’re as thick as a cobblestone and then some,” Darla said, the words wet and sloppy from her burnt, half-missing lips.

“I’m still missing the whole story,” William said.

“Dillingham is a vampire from a different family line that’s never gotten on with ours,” Angelus said.

“Silly creatures. If we were like the river to the sea, we could drown the world,” Dru said, snaking her hands like a wending river.

Angelus snorted. “I’m not going to be doing any joining with them.”

“Then what do you call putting your key in Tamara’s lock?” Darla bounced the empty laudanum bottle off Angelus’ forehead with a loud crack.

Angelus growled. 

“I think I’m getting it. You diddled Dillingham’s woman, and he wanted to kill you. I can’t imagine why,” William said sardonically, hugging Dru to him more tightly. “So why’d he do that to Darla?” His brow creased. “How’d he do that?”

“Holy water. We warned you about it, now you see why,” Angelus said. “He was aiming for me but Dillingham is a sorry example of a vampire. He’s useless in a fight.”

“I guessed that when he used a crossbow on you.” William smirked. Angelus curled his lip at him. “You know, you might want to make it up to Darla for all of this.”

“Yes, he really might,” Darla growled.

“I’d suggest bringing her Dillingham’s dust. It’s not as dramatic as bringing her his head but what can you do?” William shrugged, enjoying watching Angelus squirm under Darla’s hot gaze. He figured Angelus planned on killing Dillingham anyhow but it seemed to wound Angelus’s pride having to do it for someone else’s sake.

“Stupid pouncy poet,” Angelus hissed at him. “Go on, get out of here. Dru, go shut your boy up.”

Drusilla cupped her hands around William’s face. “Daddy will be in a bad mood for a long time. He needs to go get Grandmummy something to bring the color back to her face.”

“You mean bring some flesh back,” William said.

“Dru!” Angelus barked, and Drusilla pulled William towards their bedroom.

William shut the door as Drusilla stretched out on the bed. She smiled like an invitation. “I had no idea holy water could be that bad,” he said staring at her pale skin against the deep cherry bedspread. Darla’s wounds started to fade in his mind as Dru’s beauty flooded back in.

“Told you,” she singsonged, letting her long hair out of its intricate design. Dru wiped at a dark smudge on her garnet dress. “Naughty coal, made me all messy.” She swung out of bed, looking at the spread for transfer stains of coal dust.

“Well, then maybe we should get you out of the tatty thing.” William slipped his hands around her, turning Dru around. He kissed the nape of her neck then kissed his way down her spine, a kiss for every button. On his way back up, William loosened her corset. Drusilla rubbed her backside against the hardness of him as he slipped his hands inside her corset. The movement flipped his dressing ring back and forth. He still wore the ring even if he didn’t use it anymore. Tying his cock down so there would be no unsightly bulge to offend anyone, what was he thinking? People should be thrilled to see his male beauty.

William lifted Dru out of the pool of garnet silk. She moaned as he caught one of her pale, pink nipples in his sharp teeth. He laid her gently on the bed. Dru squirmed free of his arms and grabbed his pants, yanking them down. His penis popped free, the gold dressing ring glinting in the pale gaslight. Drusilla kissed away the drops of moisture then sucked his head, rolling the ring around with her tongue. 

“Did you savor the pain, my sweet William?” Dru asked after giving the dressing ring a tug with her teeth.

“Not as such,” he replied honestly. “But what you’re doing...don’t stop,” he added throatily.

William let her mouth work until he was weak-kneed, then he scooped her back up onto the bed. Dru pulled him into her greedily. William acquiesced eagerly to her moans of ‘harder’, the headboard thumping against the wall as he drove into her hard. His balls tightened as her little muscles gripped him. Her teeth sunk into his shoulder as he picked up his pace. The cherry bedspread undulated around them. Suddenly she lifted her head, a strange smile on her face. Her sharp-nailed hand slid up his backside then waved at something.

Puzzled, William paused and looked over his shoulder. He was shocked to see Angelus there leaning in the doorway with his trousers unbuttoned. His huge hand worked his cock as he watched them. William’s eyes went into pinpoints of blue. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

“Darla threw me out.”

“And so am I. Get the fuck out!” William ordered.

“Play nicely, my poet,” Dru purred, letting him slip free. She held out her hands to Angelus. “Two can play.”

“Oh, no they can’t.” William growled, getting off the bed.

Angelus’ thick brow furrowed and he gestured at William’s hips. “What the hell is that thing?”

In spite of himself, William looked down. The tip of his cock and his balls were still infused with desire, the color of cherries under the paleness of his skin. The gold ring gleamed wetly. “It’s a dressing ring.”

Angelus made a face. “Didn’t that hurt?”

Yes it had, William thought trying to forget the intensity of the pain he had suffered at the haberdashery when he had it done. “This is ludicrous. Get out of here. Your bint tossed you out. That doesn’t mean you get my girl.” William tried not to remember the time he had walked in on Angelus and Dru. Dru had wondered then why he hadn’t joined in. He was not about to share her, especially with Angelus.

“I was here first, boy-o. You should get on your knees and thank me for sharing!” Angelus shot back.

“Consider this a thank you.” William leapt across the room and belted Angelus across the face.

Angelus’s growled at him and punched him back, then the fight broke out in earnest. Fists, feet and teeth became weapons. Angelus grabbed William by the shirt he had neglected to remove and slammed him face first into the wall. William tackled him when Angelus’s unbuttoned pants slipped down and tripped him up. Angelus used his bigger size to his advantage, nearly crushing William into the chest on chest. 

A metal bong rang through the room when Dru crowned Angelus with the bed warmer. She slammed it into his face a second time, and he reeled backwards, blood gushing from a broken nose. “Dru!”

“Out! Get out! You are so mean!” She hit him again, forcing him out of the bedroom door. “You learn to ask first.” Dru turned on a smiling William and whacked him over the head as well.

“What did I do?” he asked, running from her now very bent bed warmer.

“Out with you, too.” She batted him out after Angelus. “You need to learn to share.” Drusilla slammed the door behind them, locking it.

“Um, Dru, sweetie, let me back in,” William pleaded.

His answer was the sounds of the chest on chest being slid in front of the door to further bar it. Angelus laughed at him. 

“Come on, Dru, let me in. I don’t have any pants on,” William snarled.

“Not until you learn to share.”

“I’ve learned my lesson,” he promised.

“Liar.”

“She’s not going to let you in, you know.” Angelus sounded amused.

“Yeah, like your bint is going to let you in either.”

Angelus shrugged and knocked on Darla’s bedroom. “Can I come back now, love?”

“Have you lost your mind?” Darla shouted, her words laudanum slurred. “I heard Drusilla. Go find somewhere else to sleep.”

“You do realize that the bedrooms are the only light proof rooms in the house and it’s nearly dawn,” William said.

“Basement,” Angelus replied, defeated.

Both men looked at each other then raced for the basement door. Angelus nearly lost his pants again. They jockeyed for position all the way down the stairs. There wasn’t much laundry waiting in the basement, just enough to wad up a couple of pillows and for them to put something between them and the cold stone of the floor.

“This is all your fault,” William grumbled, trying to get comfortable for the day.

Angelus snorted. “Not all, just mostly. If you had just shared, we’d both be warm and sated right about now.”

“Why am I always the one who has to share?” William scowled.

“Because Darla doesn’t like you and doesn’t want to sleep with you,” Angelus replied. “You’ll learn to share.”

William glanced around his damp temporary bedroom that smelled musty and heavy with coal dust. “I’m bare-assed in a basement. I think I just have learned my lesson.”

“Good.” Angelus rolled over. “I don’t know why but I have to know. How much did that ring hurt?”

William just rolled his eyes and thought about how it felt when Dru’s lips toyed with the ring. He’d need the happy thoughts to get him through what was bound to be a long day, stuck in the dark with Angelus.


End file.
